New to the Bayou - Advice Needed

[Uncle]

I started off playing Malifaux way back in 2nd when Colette came out and have pretty much only used her.  I became pretty good with her locally, but then I had to move away from my FLGS and things sort of died down.  Took at look when 3rd came out and I am really, really glad to see that the Bayou is now its own faction as opposed to being an offshoot of Outcasts.

As such, I'm looking to get started up again, but this time with my favorite bunch of swap nutters.  So, here's what I'm thinking about picking up along the way.

Big Hat seems to be the creme de la swamp, more or less, plus Som'er has always had a smelly place in my heart.  It seems like Lenny, Georgy, and Ol' Cranky are pretty much shoo-ins on any Big Hat list, plus maybe a Banjonista and a Crier.  Outside of Skeeters, is there anything in particular I should be looking to add?

I'm also a huge fan of the Brewmaster because I, well, brew.  I know Tri-Chi isn't the best keyword out there, but it seems like one can make a semi-decent Tri-Chi list just from three boxes, which is kind of nice.  Plus, let's be honest, the Whiskey Golem is too cool not to include.

Also, I've always been a fan of the Kin, but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about them.  It seems like you basically just want Ophelia with as many of the named Kin as possible, Merris for objective running, and the Young because of course you want young.  Any particular advice there?

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of Wong, Ulix, or Zipp (just an appearance thing) and Mah I can take or leave, but she would come at a much later date.

So basically, any advice for someone getting back into the game and just getting into the Bayou?

[Rufess]

Welcome to the Bayou

 

Som'er is now a real summoner who can summon all his minions. So I would say you need all of his minions in order to play him in full efficiency. Good Ol'Boy is the main combat piece who can do considerable damage as well as tanking damage in frontline. Crier is the controller and schemer who can Obey Bayou Gremlin and Skeeter to Interact with Strategy and Schemes. Spig Hog is a healer who also has Lure which is a good tool to move enemies around. I would say Banjonistor is the least you need but the come in the box with Georgy, the main damage source of the crew, so you are buying it anyway.

Big Brain Brin can be a good add to the crew with his deck manipulating and the extra hand. You may also want a stand-along schemer with high mobility, Emissary or the First Mate, in certain pool, if you decided to play Big Hat in that kind of pool for any reason.

 

Ophelia and her Kin is a powerful keyword as well. They have great firepower and high durability combined which makes them the top keyword in our Faction when playing Public Enemy and maybe Recover Evidence as well. Lacking of discussion may because they are straight forward enough (plus that inactive is a characteristic of Bayou section). You may want to add a healer or two when playing Kin to max out their durability. Bokor is the most common choice who also has synergy with Sammy for card drawing.

 

Tri-Chi I do not have enough experience with to give useful advice.

 

Big Hat by themselves is a generalist keyword that can play into vary pools. Combine them with Infamous or Tricksy you can basically play into any combination of Strategy an Schemes. They are usually not recommended to new player due to the cost and rules count. But they are less problematic for a returning player. So I would suggest buy into Big Hat and have few game before choosing the next keyword.

[Thatguy]

On 2/11/2021 at 11:48 AM, Uncle said:

Big Hat seems to be the creme de la swamp, more or less, plus Som'er has always had a smelly place in my heart.  It seems like Lenny, Georgy, and Ol' Cranky are pretty much shoo-ins on any Big Hat list, plus maybe a Banjonista and a Crier.  Outside of Skeeters, is there anything in particular I should be looking to add?

I'm also a huge fan of the Brewmaster because I, well, brew.  I know Tri-Chi isn't the best keyword out there, but it seems like one can make a semi-decent Tri-Chi list just from three boxes, which is kind of nice.  Plus, let's be honest, the Whiskey Golem is too cool not to include.

Also, I've always been a fan of the Kin, but I haven't seen a lot of discussion about them.  It seems like you basically just want Ophelia with as many of the named Kin as possible, Merris for objective running, and the Young because of course you want young.  Any particular advice there?

Big Hat is one of those crews where you want to grab everything. He can summon stuff so you'll want to get his whole tool box.

 

Brewmaster is great. I picked up the Whiskey Golem, then the whiskey gaimin, and that sort of pulled me into the whole keyword. The crew is honestly pretty good. Fermented Monks are stellar for 6 ss, and the Whiskey Golem is an absolute beast if they don't have anti-armor. Brewmaster himself is pretty squishy, so you'll usually want to run with extra stones to keep him alive. The crew only really under preforms in the presence of condition removal, but that's just sort of the way the cookie crumbles.

 

Kin are great. All the unique models are good to amazing. Sammy is a pretty early pick imo, since they produce a lot of card draw.

[Uncle]

Right now, it looks like my "standard" (IE, just putting things together here) would be something like this:

Big Hat:  Som'er, 2x Skeeters Lenny, Georgy and Olaf, Old Cranky, Banjonista, Good Ol' Boy, Big Brain Brin (7 Cache)

Tri-Chi:  Brewmaster w/12 Cups of Coffee, Wesley, Fingers, Cooper, Whiskey Golem, Whiskey Gamin, 2x Moon Shinobi (I know, Fermented River Monks are better) (5 cache)

Kin:  Ophelia w/Inferiority Complex, 3x Young, Sammy, Francois, Merris, Rami, Gautreaux Bokor, 2x Raider (3 cache)

I know, I know, I'll need to swap things up for various schemes and whatnot, but this is just a sort of standard go-to.  Although, I gotta be honest, I didn't change things up much if at all with Colette in the past.